Don't Spoil Your Appetite
Scripture Reading: Psalm 131; Ezekiel 24-25; 1 Peter 2
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation…
- 1 Peter 2:1
I’ve heard mother’s tell their children, “Don’t eat that. You will spoil your appetite and won’t eat your dinner.” Maybe your mother once said something like that to you. It is a valid concern. Fill up on junk food and you won’t eat the nutritious food your mother has prepared for you.
That is like the point Peter is making here in 1 Peter chapter two. He doesn’t just start with, “Long for the pure spiritual milk.” Instead he starts with, “Put away all malice and all deceit…” Etc. Why? I think it is because what spoils our appetite for the pure milk of God’s word are things like what he lists here.
When we allow our souls to consume spiritual junk – hypocrisy, envy, and slander (which I don’t believe is meant to be an exhaustive list) – we lose our hunger for the good food the word of God can be for our soul.
If our spiritual growth is stunted, if our soul is malnourished it is likely because we are ruining our appetite for the good things of God with spiritual junk food. It is not always just a matter of things that take up too much time and keep us from the Word. That may be a part of the equation. But it is not only a question of time management. It is a question of hunger.
Someone once told me, “We do what we want to do.” That’s a pretty simple statement, but his point was that we make time to do what we really want to do. If we want to read and study the Bible, we will find the time for it. That is helpful to a point, but it only takes us to the question as to why we don’t want to.
The answer to that may be that we don’t want to because we are getting full on something that is removing your appetite for the good word of God.
Pray and ask God what it is that keeps you from desiring the pure milk of the Word. Then, put that away. Repent of it and ask God to restore your hunger for the food that will help you grow and be strong.
